Famous Kagayanons

I bet you didn’t know half as much celebrity and famous Kagay-anons as this list shows you! By Melissa Angela C. Fernando

GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC FIGURES

Emmanuel Pelaez – Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines (VP of President Diosdado Macapagal). Born in Medina, Misamis Oriental and studied elementary in Cagayan de Oro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Pelaez

Aquilino “Nene” Q. Pimentel, Jr.- Senator of the Republic of the Philippines. Check out his bio : http://www.senate.gov.ph/senators/sen_bio/pimentel_bio.htm

Raul Chaves Rabe - Was Ambassador to Washington, USA during President Fidel V. Ramos’ term. 100% from Cagayan de Oro!!

Nestor Torre – Entertainment columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and respected movie critic, is from CDO and studied in Xavier University.

Chanda Romero – She used to have lunch at my Lola’s house. The versatile actress originally hails from Cebu but studied high school in Lourdes College.

Su Yen Chi – A former sought-after ramp and image model for famous designers.

Aegis Band – The group is known for the throat-wrenching high notes belted by sisters Juliet and Mercy Sunot whose family resides in Lower Balulang. Their songs became popular, particularly with the masses.

Mark Bautista – An original Kagay-anon and one of the most sought-after balladeers of our time!

Jose “Pepito” Chaves Alvarez – A self-made multi-millionaire, successful businessman and Philippine timber tycoon who has his own Lear jet.

Elpidio Paras – RITECC-X Co-Chair and Director of the Mindanao ICT Congress. Started the cable industry in Mindanao, way ahead of Manila. He is Vice-Chairman of the PCTA (Philippine Cable Television Association). This tireless businessman owns Paramedix, a medical transcription company, Syntactics, a web and software development company, and Arriba, a call center.

SPORTS

Isabelo “Jojo” Lastimosa

1988 PBA Rookie of the Year, Member of the PBA’s 25 Greatest Players. He lived in Baloy (actually his mom and brother still lives there) and studied at Xavier University High School (XUHS)

Nelbert “Bitoy” Omolon

Current PBA Player with Sta. Lucia; originally from Talakag, Bukidnon, but studied at XUHS

Rufus Rodriguez
Former Bureau of Immigrations and Deportation (BID ) Commissioner, Spokesperson for former President Joseph Estrada and current Congressman of the 2nd District of Cagayan de Oro City.

MILITARY

Col. Jovito Palparan (Ret.)
Studied high school at Cathedral High School

There is an Echem who was a baseball great… I heard that he pitched against Babe Ruth and actually struck him out. I just don’t know the first name… the older people from CDO would know – Mr. John Montalvan